Demand and Capacity Modelling in Healthcare Using Discrete Event Simulation

The NHS is right now confronting huge pressures relating to demand and capacity in radiology. The purpose of this research has been to provide information about MRI usage, details of operational aspects of MRI services, and to ascertain the planning intentions of NHS radiology services to keep up and create MRI capacity. The report expands on using Discrete Event Simulation (DES) to inspect and plan the utilisation of NHS hospital resources for the radiology department to help a 24 hr service that is available to outpatients which will help with diminishing patient waiting time, better resource usage, understanding the capacity and demand. Consequently, this research examines to adjust staff and resources with the demand of the MRI. The research was investigated using DES in various scenarios to find which resources are inactive;patients are treated slowly. DES helped in discovering resource utilisation and outpatient throughout the system. It additionally helped in distinguishing the bottlenecks in patient flow. The DES simulation results demonstrated that time for the outpatient in the system is less and more outpatients have been treated too. There is a higher level of outpatient patients leaving the system under 120 minutes. The report uncovered an MRI report interpretation time. Reception room time and MRI waiting room time are decreased significantly. It additionally exhibited with an expanded outflow of outpatients, resources, for example, MRI capacity and radiographer utilisation expanded.

New Perspectives for Workflow Analysis in the Health Italian Sector through Discrete Event Simulation: The Case of a Department of Laboratory Medicine

The management systems currently used in the Italian healthcare sector provide fragmented and incomplete information on this system and are generally unlikely to give accurate information on the performances of the healthcare processes. The present paper introduces a combined discrete event simulation (DES)/business process management (BPM) approach as innovative means to study the workflow of the activities within the Department of Laboratory Medicine of the “San Paolo” Hospital in Naples (Italy). After a first “As-Is” analysis to identify the current workflows of the system and to gather information regarding its behaviour, a following DES-based “What-If” analysis is implemented to figure out alternative work hypotheses in order to highlight possible modifications to the system’s response under varying operating conditions and improve its overall performances. The structure of the simulation program is explained and the results of the scenario analysis are discussed. The paper starts with a brief exploration of the use of DES in healthcare and ends with general observations on the subject.

A Combined Discrete Event—Agent Based Approach to Modeling Tensile Strength of One-Dimensional Fibrous Materials. Face Validation and Effect of the Basic Model Parameters

A combined method of discrete event and agent based modelling has been applied to the computer modelling and simulation of the tensile strength of one-dimensional fibrous materials (ODFM). This combined method is based on the concept of discrete event simulation as being applied to the modeling of the structure of the fiber flow and on the concept of agent based modelling for modelling and simulation of the fiber interaction within the structure of the fibrous material. Frictional and traction forces arise as the result of this fiber interaction. A model of the ODFM tensile strength, which is based on the slippage effect, is created and studied in this research. Only frictional and traction forces determine the tensile strength in this kind of the model. The article examines the validation problem of the slippage effect based tensile strength model and questions regarding the strength potential estimation through variation in the parameters of the model.

Discrete Event Simulation-Based Evaluation of a Single-Lane Synchronized Dual-Traffic Light Intersections

This research involved an exploratory evaluation of the dynamics of vehicular traffic on a road network across two traffic light-controlled junctions. The study uses the case study of a one-kilometer road system modelled on Anylogic version 8.8.4. Anylogic is a multi-paradigm simulation tool that supports three main simulation methodologies: discrete event simulation, agent-based modeling, and system dynamics modeling. The system is used to evaluate the implication of stochastic time-based vehicle variables on the general efficiency of road use. Road use efficiency as reflected in this model is based on the percentage of entry vehicles to exit the model within a one-hour simulation period. The study deduced that for the model under review, an increase in entry point time delay has a domineering influence on the efficiency of road use far beyond any other consideration. This study therefore presents a novel approach that leverages Discrete Events Simulation to facilitate efficient road management with a focus on optimum road use efficiency. The study also determined that the inclusion of appropriate random parameters to reflect road use activities at critical event points in a simulation can help in the effective representation of authentic traffic models. The Anylogic simulation software leverages the Classic DEVS and Parallel DEVS formalisms to achieve these objectives.

A Model Combining Discrete Event System Simulation and Genetic Algorithm for Buffer Allocation in Unreliable Large Production Lines

To solve the difficulties in allocating buffers for unreliable large production lines, this paper inves-tigated a model combining the genetic algorithm with the discrete event system simulation method. In the simulation method, times-to-failure of an unreliable large production line is assumed to follow exponential distribution, whereas times-to-repair and times-to-processing are set to follow an Erlang-k distribution. Using a genetic algorithm based on special position-based mapping means and elitist protection strategy, the buffer configuration of an auto-body welding line is optimized. The simulation of the optimized configuration shows that the performance of the production line, such as productivity and the main average utilization of the workstations, is much improved. This model can optimize the allocation of buffers for unreliable large production lines effectively.

Topology-Based and Event-Oriented Approach to Simulation of Cyber-Physical Systems

A simulation model for cyber-physical systems(CPSs)was presented.The model was developed by the method of combination of topology-based and event-oriented that could be used to simulate systems with routing flexibility,service-selection flexibility and service- mode flexibility overall by integrating the strategies related.The validity of the model has been verified by two extensive experiments.

A discrete event simulation model for waiting time management in an emergency department:A case study in an Egyptian hospital

This paper presents a discrete event simulation model to help improving healthcare service provided by an emergency department at a private hospital at Zagazig,Egypt.We construct a patient flow division model by dividing patients according to their severity level.Although patients division and routing have significant evidence in improving health service in terms of waiting times and Length of Stay(LoS),there is a lack in a detailed system evaluation and implementation under this configuration.Based on system observation and health care provider’s interviews,a comprehensive and clear picture of the system has been drawn along with a conceptual model showing different patient flows through the studied system.A discrete event simulation model of the Emergency Department is built using collected data.Different operational scenarios were tested against the baseline scenario to study the impact of patient flow division,including different staff capacities and different patient magnitudes.Results indicate that waiting times and length of patient stay can be significantly improved under the proposed7 system configuration.

Automation of input data to discrete event simulation for manufacturing: A review

Discrete event simulation(DES)is a well-established decision support tool in modeling work flows in manufacturing industry.But,there are an amount of practical and financial obstacles that deter the employment of this technology in industry.One of the main weaknesses of operating DES is the costs spent on collecting and mapping input data from different enterprise data resources into a DES model.Another issue is the cost of integrating simulation applications with other manufacturing applications.These barriers hinder the automated input of data into DES models and as a result deter use of real-time DES in manufacturing.This review presents the existing research studies in the literature that address the above issues,demonstrating in parallel the already implemented concepts.The scope of this review is to provide an overview of the input data phase,focusing on its automation and motivating researchers to re-examine this phase by highlighting future research directions.

A Discrete Event Simulation Support System in C^(++)

This paper describes a discrete simulation support system that forms major parts of most simulation program. The support system contains three main features which differ from the most of other simulation support systems. It follows a strict three phase structure; supports visual interactive simulation. The principles of designing and implementing of the system are explained module by module.

A Survey of the Use of the Discrete-event Simulation in Manufacturing Industry

In this work, a survey of companies has been produc ed from a questionnaire and in-depth inter-views. The aimof the paper is to give a current view of the use of DES (Discrete- Event Simulation) in the indust ry. The companies have been selected in a wide range in e.g. size, capital turno ver and employees. The survey was restricted to Sweden, although the results may be applicable to other countries with similar industrial structure. Some of the companies investigated are also multinational with branches around the world. T o illustrate the differences in production systems different sectors have be en investigated, e.g. the manufacturing industry and energy sector. The manufact uring systems generally differ in that the energy sector is more known for high reliability in their systems and the manufacturing sector tends to work more wit h lean production. Previous surveys of manufacturing efficiency illustrate different aspects. Accor ding to one survey, more than one-third (34%) of the disturbances in two countr ies (the U.S. and Finland) were mainly caused by design-based errors and flaws. The survey also showed the scope of safety problems experienced in the implemen tation and use of flexible manufacturing systems (Jrvinen et al., 1996). Another survey in Germany reports a gap between users and non-users of DES. Man y companies that are not familiar with simulation are not aware of its benefits. The study suggested integrating simulation into the planning processes as a reg ular tool. So far, DES is mostly used in system planning, resource planning and scheduling and production planning (Hirschberg & Heitmann, 1997). The disposition of the accomplished questionnaire had been multiple-choice ques tions in a strict order. The respondents gave their views on what the interviewe r considered relevant for the survey. The questionnaire was mailed to 220 person s in May 2001; a second round for unanswered surveys was dispatched in August 20 01. Replies came from 114 respondents; thus, the reply rate to all questionnaire s sent out was 52%. The replies came in from 80 different companies. Questionswere raised regarding what kinds of decisions are taken from a simulation projec t and questions were also asked regarding the tool itself. Some common problems encountered based on the authors’ knowledge were asked in the questionnaire. The questions were sent to those who had reasonable knowledge of how to work with D ES. Supplementary in-depth interviews were also accomplished. On the question if DES facilitates the decision-making process 79% of totally 3 8 answered to a very large or a large extent. Regarding the question if DES is a useful tool for measuring the availability of equipment for example system verification 73% of 33 responded to a very large or a large extent. A majority o f the respondents genuinely see an advantage with the use of simulation, which i s an important result from the study. The cost reduction aspect of the productio n is also an advantage of DES. On the question eight answered to a very large ex tent and 23 to a large extent of total 39 replies. The question demonstrates tha t the results of a simulation model are indeed used in the real world. Finally, in the question of DES is used for staffing it is indicated that it is not so co mmonly used as for other functions asked for. The staffing issue requires good k nowledge about time measurement of manual labor. The option, however, to include manual work in a simulation model is in many programs extensive and must be a v aluable option to evaluate work intensive parts of production lines and their im provement. To conclude, it could be mentioned that DES is a tool with potential. The use is increasing and 12 of 80 companies investigated in Sweden 2001 are using it, an increase compared to previous stud-ies. Of those 12 companies, four are using t he tool to a large extent. The main advantage according to the survey beside the visualization part is that the knowledge about a system is investigated and doc umented.

Discrete-Event Simulation of Viaduct Construction Methods in Riyadh Metro

The Riyadh metro project is one of the current megaprojects that aim to improve the transit systems in Saudi Arabia.It consists of several metro lines with a total length of 176 km and 85 stations.The viaducts are considered as one of the main construction elements in the metro lines.Four methods for viaducts construction have been used in the Riyadh metro project:precast beam,full span launching method,cast on-site,and segment method(precast segment method and BCM(balanced cantilever method)).The viaducts work consumes a large portion of a project’s time and cost.Furthermore,the competitive nature of the construction industry increases the need to improve the efficiency of construction performance.Accordingly,this paper takes the initial steps toward increasing the efficiency of viaduct construction methods through simulation.Simulation of construction processes provides a systematic tool that can be used for determining the resources,time,and cost of these processes.The simulation processes should focus on the main activities affecting this element’s execution for viaducts construction,such as segment storage,handling,transporting,and installation.This study highlights the viaducts construction methods and develops general discrete-event simulation models for the most commonly used viaducts construction methods in the Riyadh metro using AnyLogic simulation software.The simulation models visualize and capture the interaction between the different activities and resources in a viaduct construction.Consequently,the construction drawbacks can be identified.Furthermore,the simulation model can be manipulated by adding assumptions to develop more efficient construction methods in terms of time and cost in such projects.

Discrete Event Simulation to Evaluate Different Treatments of Diabetic Retinopathy Disease

Modeling approach using discrete event simulation has been proven to work well in modeling in health care. The aim of our paper is to propose a simulation approach which shows realistic models presenting different possible treatments in different stages of diabetic retinopathy. We have presented three models in order to choose the best treatment for diabetic retinopathy patients. The first model describes the flow of a patient through stages without any medical treatments. It takes 13 years to reach blindness. The second model which includes the laser photocoagulation treatments leads to blindness after 46 years. Then, the third model illustrates the involvement of vitrectomy operation and delays blindness by 23 years. To construct the models, data were taken from experienced doctors and professors of the ophthalmology department in the University hospital Habib Bourguiba and the endocrinology department in the University hospital Hedi Chaker in Sfax, Tunisia. Our objective is to delay reaching the blindness stage as late as possible. Three models were developed, verified and validated through many iterative implementations with ARENA simulation software.

Modeling the Dynamic Drafting Process Based on Discrete-Event Simulation

The goal of this paper is to provide an approach to investigate the variation of fiber quantity in a certain cross-section of the drafting zone. This model with discrete-event simulation( DES)method was presented to simulate the dynamic drafting process. This model described the behavior of individual fibers,which was divided into four phases and simulated by corresponding modules. Three sets of processing conditions in industry were simulated and demonstrated the applications of this model. The comparison between experiments and simulation results could also validate this model. This model could be used to simulate various drafting process with appropriate drafting settings.

A Novel Simulation Method for Power Electronics: Discrete State Event Driven Method

In the analysis of power electronics system,it is necessary to simulate ordinary differential equations(ODEs)with discontinuities and stiffness.However,there are many difficulties in using traditional discrete-time algorithms to solve such equations.Kofman and others presented the quantized state systems(QSS)algorithm in the discrete event system specification(DEVS)formalism.The discretization is applied to the state variables instead of time range in QSS.QSS is efficient to solve ODEs,but it is difficulty to be used when simulating actual power electronics systems with controller’s and other events.Based on the idea of this numerical algorithm and discrete event,a Discrete State Event Driven(DSED)simulation method is presented in this paper,which is fit for simulation of power electronics system.The method is developed to deal with non-linearity,stiffness and multi-time scale of power electronics systems.The DSED simulation method includes event definition,module seperation and modeling,event-driven mechanisms,numerical computation based on QSS,and some other operations.Simulation results verified the effectiveness and validity of the proposed method.

基于Plant Simulation的航空发动机维修生产线工序优化

针对航空发动机维修生产线生产效率较低的问题,考虑航空发动机大修工序间关系复杂度高、动态性及工时不确定等特点,采用Plant Simulation生产系统仿真软件对大修生产线建立仿真模型。在对工序流程、维修区域和工时等分析的基础上,通过仿真模型对26个维修工序工位从堵塞时间、工作时间和等待时间3个方面进行分析,识别得出叶轮性能恢复、涡轮转子性能恢复和试车3个瓶颈工序。对不同影响因素开展仿真优化与敏感性分析,得出瓶颈工序的优化措施及效果评价。

Reliability simulation and analysis of phased-mission system with multiple states

Basing on discrete event simulation, a reliability simulation algorithm of the phased-mission system with multiple states is put forth. Firstly, the concepts and main characters of phasedmission system are discussed, and an active and standby redundancy (AS) tree structure method to describe the system structure of each mission phase is brought forward. Secondly, the behavior of the phased-mission system with multiple states is discussed with the theory of state chart. Thirdly, basing on the discrete event simulation concept, a simulation algorithm to estimate reliability parameters of the phased-mission system with multiple states is explored. Finally, an example is introduced and analyzed, and the analysis result verifies the algorithms. The simulation algorithm is practical and versatile, for it can model complex behavior of phased-mission system flexibly, and more reliability parameters to understand system operation can be attained.

Study on Operation of Arctic Offshore Complex by Means of Multicomponent Process-Based Simulation

We developed a detailed simulation model of the Arctic marine transport system(MTS) for oil platform Prirazlomnaya. The model has a multidisciplinary nature and involves: sub-models of various transport and technological processes; stochastic weather generator to obtain time series of 15 environmental parameters; and contextual planning algorithm to build voyage plan considering several types of ships and cargoes. We used a significant amount of real operational data to identify model parameters and to prove its statistical reliability. Our main scientific task is to investigate the interaction of various processes of a different nature, while the practical aim is to find a set of measures to increase the efficiency of MTS. The results of the study reveal many examples of the mutual interaction of various processes that need to be considered at the design stage to avoid technical mistakes.The study formed a basis for making managerial decisions at the top level of Gazprom Neft Shelf Company.

A discrete-event model to simulate the effect of truck bunching due to payload variance on cycle time, hauled mine materials and fuel consumption

Data collected from truck payload management systems at various surface mines shows that the payload variance is significant and must be considered in analysing the mine productivity,energy consumption,greenhouse gas emissions and associated cost.Payload variance causes significant differences in gross vehicle weights.Heavily loaded trucks travel slower up ramps than lightly loaded trucks.Faster trucks are slowed by the presence of slower trucks,resulting in‘bunching’,production losses and increasing fuel consumptions.This paper simulates the truck bunching phenomena in large surface mines to improve truck and shovel systems’efficiency and minimise fuel consumption.The study concentrated on completing a practical simulation model based on a discrete event method which is most commonly used in this field of research in other industries.The simulation model has been validated by a dataset collected from a large surface mine in Arizona state,USA.The results have shown that there is a good agreement between the actual and estimated values of investigated parameters.

Application of Stochastic Fracture Network with Numerical Fluid Flow Simulations to Groundwater Flow Modeling in Fractured Rocks

The continuum approach in fluid flow modeling is generally applied to porous geological media, but has limited applicability to fractured rocks. With the presence of a discrete fracture network relatively sparsely distributed in the matrix, it may be difficult or erroneous to use a porous medium fluid flow model with continuum assumptions to describe the fluid flow in fractured rocks at small or even large field scales. A discrete fracture fluid flow approach incorporating a stochastic fracture network with numerical fluid flow simulations could have the capability of capturing fluid flow behaviors such as inhomogeneity and anisotropy while reflecting the changes of hydraulic features at different scales. Moreover, this approach can be implemented to estimate the size of the representative elementary volume (REV) in order to find out the scales at which a porous medium flow model could be applied, and then to determine the hydraulic conductivity tensor for fractured rocks. The following topics are focused on in this study: (a) conceptual discrete fracture fluid flow modeling incorporating a stochastic fracture network with numerical flow simulations; (b) estimation of REV and hydraulic conductivity tensor for fractured rocks utilizing a stochastic fracture network with numerical fluid flow simulations; (c) investigation of the effect of fracture orientation and density on the hydraulic conductivity and REV by implementing a stochastic fracture network with numerical fluid flow simulations, and (d) fluid flow conceptual models accounting for major and minor fractures in the 2 D or 3 D flow fields incorporating a stochastic fracture network with numerical fluid flow simulations.

Business Process Analysis and Simulation: The Contact Center of a Public Health and Social Information Office

This article proposes a framework, called BP-M* which includes: 1) a methodology to analyze, engineer, restructure and implement business processes, and 2) a process model that extends the process diagram with the specification of resources that execute the process activities, allocation policies, schedules, times of activities, management of queues in input to the activities and workloads so that the same model can be simulated by a discrete event simulator. The BP-M* framework has been applied to a real case study, a public Contact Center which provides different typologies of answers to users’ requests. The simulation allows to study different system operating scenarios (“What-If” analysis) providing useful information for analysts to evaluate restructuring actions.